I think Bill put his finger on it. I don’t know anybody, ANYBODY, who really thinks that our future will be better than what we have today, let alone what we had in the past. That is a sad statement to make about what used to be some of the most optimistic people on this planet. But when you begin that slide into becoming a fat, sclerotic, European-style social welfare state, like we’re doing right now in the United States, it’s hard to BE optimistic about anything because the bulk of the population simply wants to maintain the status quo, which is to see that their government checks keep coming in.

I think the only way it stops and people start demanding some real change is when we actually do become just like Greece, bankrupt and filled with social unrest, sky-high taxes, no economic growth, and chronically high unemployment. Like a drug addict, we will only change when we hit bottom. And, at this rate, that will happen by 2016.